Obama’s budget has $35 million for state’s coast

Tuesday

Feb 2, 2010 at 11:40 AM

Nikki BuskeyStaff Writer

HOUMA — Environmental officials and lawmakers praised the Obama administration Monday for crafting the first presidential budget that contains money to restore Louisiana’s coast, but they say more needs to be done.The 2011 presidential budget includes $35.6 million for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-sponsored restoration projects. Of that, $19 million will go to actual construction and $16.6 million be spent on studies. The money should help the corps move forward with its Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration program, created by Congress in 2007 to identify critical projects that could be implemented within the next five to 10 years.“The big deal is that in this budget climate you’re seeing everything get cut,” Garret Graves, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s top aide on coastal issues, said of the proposed budget. “There are only two new corps construction projects in the entire country recommended for construction, and one of them is ours.”U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., agreed that any step benefitting critical coastal-restoration projects authorized three years ago is a “good start.”The $3.8 trillion presidential budget was announced Monday. It must secure Congressional approval before money is doled out.Last week, state officials announced plans to spend $600 million in state money on levee, coastal-restoration and coastal-infrastructure projects in 2011.Though the money represents a small portion of the amount needed to finance the $2 billion Louisiana Coastal Area Program, advocates are hopeful that it indicates increased federal interest restoration efforts.It “demonstrates once again that President Obama intends to follow through on his pledge to restore coastal Louisiana and protect it from the next Katrina,” said Courtney Taylor, an analyst and attorney for the Coastal Louisiana Project at Environmental Defense Fund.Getting those first dollars for a corps’ project is a major hurdle to overcome, officials said.“It’s very difficult for projects to get money” because of the backlog that exists, said Karla Raettig, campaign manager for Coastal Louisiana Restoration with the National Wildlife Federation. “It’s like jumping in line. There has to be a very good reason to jump in line, and in this case it’s the disaster that is Louisiana’s coastal-land loss.”The Army Corps’ New Orleans district’s budget may be cut by one-third, affecting other local projects, Graves said.It “could have huge consequences for projects, like (the Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane-protection system) or the Houma Navigation Canal lock, that are ready to go,” Graves said.Taylor said that the money indicates trips to the Gulf Coast over the last six months by federal environmental officials helped raise awareness of Louisiana’s problems.But other Army Corps restoration programs, such as in the Florida Everglades, received significantly more money — $180 million for construction. Another program, which helps migrating fish survive dams on the Columbia River got $138 million. Louisiana’s restoration money is “relatively small” Raettig said, but could provide the start needed to secure big construction dollars.Other environmental agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife, are also budgeted to receive restoration money for Louisiana.“The way you’re able to get big money projects like the Everglades” is by having multiple agencies involved, Graves said.Federal officials are also working on reforms to help fast-track projects, Taylor said. “While this budget request is a step in the right direction, the current federal process for addressing the dramatic ecological and economic crisis in coastal Louisiana is broken,” Landrieu said. “The best of plans and projects are held up by the interminable process of planning, authorizations, complex regulations and insufficient and unreliable funding. Because the work to protect and restore coastal Louisiana could cost billions of dollars, we desperately need a more reliable and robust program to address this crisis.”

Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.